Bible in 90 Days

¹¹ In this way, Solomon finished the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. He successfully accomplished everything he intended for the Lord’s temple and his own palace.

Solomon again meets God

¹² Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him: I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place as my house of sacrifice. ¹³ When I close the sky so that there is no rain or I order the locusts to consume the land or I send a plague against my people, ¹⁴ if my people who belong to me will humbly pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. ¹⁵ From now on my eyes will be open and my ears will pay attention to the prayers offered in this place, ¹⁶ because I have chosen this temple and declared it holy so that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. ¹⁷ As for you, if you will walk before me just as your father David did, doing all that I have commanded you and keeping my regulations and case laws, ¹⁸ then I will establish your royal throne, just as I promised your father David: You will never fail to have a successor ruling in Israel. ¹⁹ But if any of you ever turn away from and abandon the regulations and commands that I have given you, and go to serve other gods and worship them, ²⁰ then I will uproot you^[a] from my land that I gave you, and I will reject this temple that I made holy for my name. I will make it a joke, insulted by everyone. ²¹ Everyone who passes by this temple—so lofty now—will be shocked and will wonder, Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and temple? ²² The answer will come, Because they abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt. They embraced other gods, worshipping and serving them. This is why God brought all this disaster on them.

Solomon’s buildings and prosperity

8 After twenty years of building the Lord’s temple and his royal palace, ² Solomon next rebuilt the cities Huram had given him, and he settled Israelites there.

³ Solomon went to Hamath-zobah and seized it. ⁴ He fortified Tadmor in the wilderness, along with all the storage cities he had built in Hamath. ⁵ Solomon also built Upper Beth-horon and Lower Beth-horon as fortress cities with walls, gates, and crossbars; ⁶ Baalath; all the cities he used for storage; and all the cities used for chariots and cavalry—along with everything else he wanted to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout his kingdom.

⁷ Any non-Israelite people who remained of the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites— ⁸ that is, the descendants of such people who were still in the land because the Israelites weren’t able to destroy them—Solomon forced into the labor gangs that are still in existence today. ⁹ However, Solomon didn’t force the Israelites to work as slaves; instead, they became warriors, chief officers, and the commanders of his chariots and cavalry. ¹⁰ And Solomon had two hundred fifty chief officers^[b] who were in charge of the people.

¹¹ Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter from David’s City to a palace he had built for her, because he said, “My wife mustn’t live in the palace of Israel’s King David, because the places where the Lord’s chest has been are holy.”

¹² Then Solomon offered entirely burned offerings to the Lord on the Lord’s altar that Solomon had built in front of the porch, ¹³ as each day required, according to the commandment of Moses for sabbaths, new moon festivals, and the three annual festivals—Unleavened Bread, Weeks, and Booths. ¹⁴ Just as his father David had ordered, Solomon set up the divisions of the priests for their services and the Levites to their posts for offering praise and ministering in front of the priests, doing what needed to be done each day; as well as the gatekeepers in their divisions at each gate, because this was what David the man of God had commanded. ¹⁵ They didn’t deviate in any way from the king’s commands concerning the priests, the Levites, or the treasuries. ¹⁶ All Solomon’s work was carried out from the day the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid until its completion. Then the Lord’s temple was completely finished.

¹⁷ Then Solomon went to Ezion-geber and Eloth on the coast in the land of Edom. ¹⁸ Huram had his servants bring ships to Solomon, along with crews of expert sailors. They went with Solomon’s servants to Ophir and imported four hundred fifty kikkars of gold, which they brought back to King Solomon.

Queen of Sheba

9 When the queen of Sheba heard reports about Solomon, she came to Jerusalem to test Solomon with riddles. Accompanying her was a huge entourage, with camels carrying spices, large amounts of gold, and precious stones. After she arrived, she told Solomon everything that was on her mind. ² Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too difficult for him to answer. ³ When the queen of Sheba saw how wise Solomon was, the palace he had built, ⁴ the food on his table, his servants’ quarters, the function and dress of his attendants, his cupbearers and their dress, and the entirely burned offerings he offered at the Lord’s temple,^[c] it took her breath away.

⁵ “The report I heard about your deeds and wisdom when I was still at home is true,” she said to the king. ⁶ “I didn’t believe it until I came and saw it with my own eyes. In fact, the half of it wasn’t told to me! You have far more than I was told. ⁷ Your people and these servants who continually serve you and get to listen to your wisdom are truly happy! ⁸ Bless the Lord your God because he was pleased to put you on the throne as king for the Lord your God. Because your God loved Israel and wanted to establish them forever, he has made you their king to uphold justice and righteousness.”

⁹ Then she gave the king one hundred twenty kikkars of gold, a great quantity of spices, and precious stones. Never again has such a quantity of spice come to Israel as when the queen of Sheba gave this gift to King Solomon.

¹⁰ In addition, Huram’s servants and the servants of Solomon, who had brought gold back from Ophir, also brought algum wood and precious stones. ¹¹ The king made steps^[d] for the Lord’s temple and for the royal palace with the algum wood, as well as lyres and harps for the musicians. Never before had anything like them been seen in the land of Judah. ¹² King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she wanted, even more than she had brought the king. Then she and her servants returned to her homeland.

Solomon’s wealth

¹³ Solomon received an annual income of six hundred sixty-six kikkars of gold, ¹⁴ not including income from the traders and merchants. All the Arabian kings and the governors of the land also brought Solomon gold and silver. ¹⁵ King Solomon made two hundred body-sized shields of hammered gold, using fifteen pounds^[e] of hammered gold in each shield; ¹⁶ and three hundred small shields of hammered gold, using seven and a half pounds^[f] of hammered gold in each shield. The king placed these in the Forest of Lebanon Palace.

¹⁷ The king also made a large ivory throne and covered it with pure gold. ¹⁸ Six steps led up to the throne, which had a gold footrest attached. Two lions stood beside the armrests on both sides of the throne. ¹⁹ Another twelve lions stood on both sides of the six steps. No other kingdom had anything like this.

²⁰ All King Solomon’s drinking cups were made of gold, and all the items in the Forest of Lebanon Palace were made of pure gold, not silver, since even silver wasn’t considered good enough in Solomon’s time! ²¹ The royal fleet sailed to Tarshish with the servants of Huram, returning once every three years with gold, silver, ivory, monkeys, and peacocks.^[g]

²² King Solomon far exceeded all the earth’s kings in wealth and wisdom, ²³ and kings of every nation wanted an audience with Solomon in order to hear his God-given wisdom. ²⁴ Year after year they came with tribute: objects of silver and gold, clothing, weapons, spices, horses, and mules.

²⁵ Solomon also had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, together with twelve thousand horsemen that he kept in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. ²⁶ He ruled all the kings from the Euphrates^[h] to the Philistines’ land and the border of Egypt. ²⁷ In Jerusalem, the king made silver as common as stones and cedar as common as sycamore trees that grow in the foothills. ²⁸ Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and every land.

Solomon’s remaining days

²⁹ The rest of Solomon’s deeds, from beginning to end, aren’t they written in the records of the prophet Nathan, the prophecies of Ahijah from Shiloh, and the visions of the seer Iddo concerning Jeroboam, Nebat’s son? ³⁰ Solomon ruled over all Israel in Jerusalem for forty years. ³¹ Solomon lay down with his ancestors and was buried in David’s City with his father. His son Rehoboam succeeded him as king.

How Rehoboam lost the kingdom

10 Rehoboam went to Shechem, where all Israel had come to make him king. ² When Jeroboam, Nebat’s son, heard the news, he returned from Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon. ³ The people sent and called for Jeroboam, who along with all Israel came and said to Rehoboam, ⁴ “Your father made our workload^[i] very heavy; if you will lessen the demands your father made of us and lighten the heavy workload he demanded from us, then we will serve you.”

⁵ He answered them, “Come back in three days.” So the people left.

⁶ King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon when he was alive. “What do you advise?” Rehoboam asked. “How should I respond to these people?”

⁷ “If you are kind to these people and try to please them by speaking gently with them,” they replied, “they will be your servants forever.”

⁸ But Rehoboam ignored the advice the elders gave him and instead sought the counsel of the young advisors who had grown up with him and now served him. ⁹ “What do you advise?” he asked them. “How should we respond to these people who said to me, ‘Lighten the workload your father demanded from us’?”

¹⁰ The young people who had grown up with Rehoboam said to him, “This people said to you, ‘Your father made our workload heavy. Lighten it for us!’ Now this is what you should say to them, ‘My baby^[j] finger is thicker than my father’s waist! ¹¹ So if my father made your workload heavy, I’ll make it even heavier! If my father disciplined you with whips, I’ll do it with scorpions!’”

¹² Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had specified when he said, “Come back in three days.” ¹³ The king then answered the people harshly. He ignored the elders’ advice, ¹⁴ and instead followed the young people’s advice. He said, “My father made your workload heavy, but I’ll make it even heavier; my father disciplined you with whips, but I’ll do it with scorpions!”

¹⁵ The king didn’t listen to the people because this turn of events came from God so that the Lord might keep his promise concerning Jeroboam, Nebat’s son, which God delivered through Ahijah from Shiloh. ¹⁶ When all Israel saw^[k] that the king wouldn’t listen to them, the people answered the king,

Then all Israel went back to their homes, ¹⁷ and Rehoboam ruled over only the Israelites who lived in the cities of Judah.

¹⁸ When King Rehoboam sent Hadoram to them (he was the leader of the work gang), the Israelites stoned him to death. King Rehoboam quickly got into his chariot and fled to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ And so Israel has been in rebellion against David’s dynasty to this day.

11 When Rehoboam arrived at Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, one hundred eighty thousand select warriors, to fight against Israel and to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam. ² But the Lord’s word came to Shemaiah the man of God: ³ Tell Judah’s King Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, and all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, ⁴ This is what the Lord says: Don’t make war against your relatives. Go home, every one of you, because this is my plan. When they heard the Lord’s words, they abandoned their attack against Jeroboam.

⁵ Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem, but he built cities for Judah’s defense ⁶ in Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, ⁷ Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam, ⁸ Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, ⁹ Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, ¹⁰ Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron. These were the fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin. ¹¹ He made the fortifications stronger, placed commanders in them, and supplied them with food, oil, and wine. ¹² He also stored shields and spears in each of the cities, making them very strong. This is how Judah and Benjamin remained under his control.

¹³ The priests and the Levites from every region throughout all Israel sided with Rehoboam. ¹⁴ The Levites left their pastures and property to come to Judah and Jerusalem because Jeroboam and his sons had refused to let them serve as the Lord’s priests, ¹⁵ having appointed his own priests for the shrines and the goat and calf idols he had made. ¹⁶ People from every tribe of Israel who had made up their minds to seek the Lord, Israel’s God, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord, the God of their ancestors. ¹⁷ They strengthened the kingdom of Judah and supported Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, for three years by following the way of David and Solomon those three years.

¹⁸ Rehoboam married Mahalath daughter of Jerimoth, David’s son, and Abihail daughter of Eliab, Jesse’s son. ¹⁹ The sons she bore him were Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. ²⁰ Later he married Maacah, Absalom’s daughter, who bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. ²¹ Rehoboam loved Absalom’s daughter Maacah more than all his wives and secondary wives. In all, he had eighteen wives and sixty secondary wives, twenty-eight sons, and sixty daughters. ²² Rehoboam named Abijah, Maacah’s son, as his successor in order to make him king. ²³ He wisely placed some of his sons in every region of Judah and Benjamin, in every fortified city, and gave them plenty of food and sought many wives for them.

12 But as soon as Rehoboam had secured his royal power, he, along with all Israel, abandoned the Lord’s Instruction.

Rehoboam rules

² Egypt’s King Shishak attacked Jerusalem in the fifth year of King Rehoboam because Israel had been unfaithful to the Lord. ³ Accompanying Shishak from Egypt were twelve hundred chariots, sixty thousand horses, and countless Libyan, Sukkite, and Cushite warriors. ⁴ He captured the fortified cities of Judah and came toward Jerusalem. ⁵ Then the prophet Shemaiah went to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and told them, This is what the Lord says: Since you have abandoned me, now I am abandoning you to Shishak’s power.

⁶ Then the leaders of Israel and the king submitted. “The Lord is right,” they said.

⁷ When the Lord saw that they had submitted, the Lord’s word came to Shemaiah: Since they have submitted, I won’t destroy them. I will deliver them in a little while, and I won’t use Shishak to pour out my anger against Jerusalem. ⁸ Nevertheless, they will be subject to him so that they learn the difference between serving me and serving other nations.

⁹ Egypt’s King Shishak attacked Jerusalem and seized the treasures of the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. He took everything, even the gold shields Solomon had made. ¹⁰ King Rehoboam replaced them with bronze shields and assigned them to the officers of the guard who protected the entrance to the royal palace. (¹¹ Whenever the king entered the Lord’s temple, the guards would carry the shields and then return them to the guardroom.) ¹² When Rehoboam submitted, the Lord was no longer angry with him, and total destruction was avoided. There were, after all, some good things still in Judah.

¹³ So King Rehoboam was securely established in Jerusalem. Rehoboam was 41 years old when he became king, and he ruled seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to put his name. His mother’s name was Naamah from Ammon. ¹⁴ But Rehoboam did what was evil because he didn’t set his heart on seeking the Lord. ¹⁵ The deeds of Rehoboam, from beginning to end, aren’t they written in the records of the prophet Shemaiah and the seer Iddo, including the genealogical records? There was continual warfare between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. ¹⁶ Rehoboam lay down with his ancestors and was buried in David’s City. His son Abijah^[l] succeeded him as king.

Abijah rules Judah

13 Abijah^[m] became king over Judah in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam. ² He ruled for three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Micaiah; she was Uriel’s daughter from Gibeah. When war broke out between Abijah and Jeroboam, ³ Abijah went to fight with an army of four hundred thousand select troops against Jeroboam’s select forces numbering eight hundred thousand, who were arrayed in battle formation.

⁴ Abijah stood on the heights of Mount Zemaraim in Ephraim’s highlands and said:

¹³ Meanwhile, Jeroboam had sent troops around behind them for an ambush so that the main force was in front of Judah while the ambush was behind. ¹⁴ When Judah looked around and suddenly realized that they were surrounded, they cried out to the Lord while the priests sounded the trumpets ¹⁵ and raised the battle cry. When they raised the battle cry, God defeated Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶ So the Israelites fled before Judah, and God gave Judah the victory. ¹⁷ Abijah and his people struck them severely: five hundred thousand select warriors were killed. ¹⁸ Israel was subdued on that occasion, and Judah succeeded because they relied on the Lord, the God of their ancestors. ¹⁹ Abijah pursued Jeroboam and took these cities away from him: Bethel, Jeshanah, and Ephron,^[o] along with their villages. ²⁰ Jeroboam failed to regain power during the time of Abijah. The Lord finally struck him down, and he died. ²¹ Abijah, however, grew strong. He married fourteen wives; he had twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. ²² The rest of Abijah’s deeds, what he did and what he said, are written in the account of the prophet Iddo.

14 Abijah lay down with his ancestors and was buried in David’s City. His son Asa succeeded him as king.

Asa rules Judah

^[p] In Asa’s time, the land had peace for ten years. ^2 [q] Asa did what was right and good in the Lord his God’s eyes. ³ He removed the foreign altars and shrines, smashed the sacred pillars, cut down the sacred poles,^{[r] 4} and urged Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, by doing what the Instruction and the commandments required. ⁵ He also removed the shrines and incense altars from all the cities of Judah so that the kingdom was at peace under him. ⁶ When the land was at peace, he built fortified cities in Judah; there was no war in those years because the Lord had given him rest.

⁷ “Let’s build up these cities,” Asa told Judah. “We’ll surround them with walls, towers, gates, and crossbars while the land is still ours, because we sought the Lord our God and he sought us^[s] and surrounded us with rest.” As a result, the people successfully completed their building projects.

Judah defeats Cush

⁸ Asa had an army of three hundred thousand Judeans armed with body-sized shields and spears and another two hundred eighty thousand from Benjamin armed with small shields and bows. All were brave warriors. ⁹ Zerah the Cushite marched against him with an army of one million men and three hundred chariots. When he got as far as Mareshah, ¹⁰ Asa marched against him, setting up for battle in a valley north^[t] of Mareshah.

¹¹ Then Asa cried out to the Lord his God, “Lord, only you can help the weak against the powerful.^[u] Help us, Lord our God, because we rely on you and we have marched against this multitude in your name. You are the Lord our God. Don’t let a mere human stand against you!”

¹² So the Lord struck the Cushites before Asa and Judah, and the Cushites fled. ¹³ Asa and his troops chased them as far as Gerar. The Cushites fell until there were no survivors. They were completely crushed by the Lord and his army, who carried off a huge amount of loot, ¹⁴ and attacked all the cities surrounding Gerar who were terrified of the Lord. They plundered all these cities as well because there was a great amount of loot in them. ¹⁵ They also attacked the herdsmen’s camps, taking many sheep and camels before returning to Jerusalem.

15 When God’s spirit came upon Azariah, Oded’s son, ² he confronted Asa: “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin,” he said. “The Lord is with you as long as you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you abandon him, he will abandon you. ³ For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach them, and without the Instruction. ⁴ But in their time of trouble they turned to the Lord, Israel’s God. They sought him and found him! ⁵ At that time, it wasn’t safe to travel because great turmoil affected all the inhabitants of the area. ⁶ Nation was crushed by nation and city by city, as God troubled them with every kind of problem. ⁷ But as for you, be brave and don’t lose heart, because your work will be rewarded!”

Asa’s reforms

⁸ As soon as Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah, Oded’s son,^[v] he felt brave and removed the detestable idols from all of Judah and Benjamin, as well as from the cities he had captured in Ephraim’s highlands, and he repaired the Lord’s altar that stood before the Lord’s entrance hall. ⁹ Then Asa gathered all Judah and Benjamin, along with those who were living among them as immigrants from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, because many people from Israel had joined up with him when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. ¹⁰ They gathered in Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s rule. ¹¹ On that day they sacrificed to the Lord part of the loot they had taken: seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. ¹² They made a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, with all their heart and all their being. ¹³ They agreed that anyone who refused to seek the Lord, Israel’s God, would be put to death, whether young or old, male or female. ¹⁴ They swore this to the Lord with a loud voice, shouts of joy, and blasts from trumpets and horns. ¹⁵ All Judah was delighted with the solemn pledge because they had sworn it with all their hearts. When they enthusiastically sought God, he was found by them, and the Lord gave them peace on every side. ¹⁶ Asa the king even removed his grandmother Maacah from the position of queen mother because she had made an image of Asherah. Asa cut down her image, pulverized it, and burned it in the Kidron Valley. ¹⁷ Although the shrines weren’t removed from Israel, Asa nevertheless remained committed with all his heart throughout his life. ¹⁸ He brought into God’s temple the various silver and gold objects that he and his father had dedicated. ¹⁹ There was no war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s rule.

Aram invades Judah

16 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s rule, Israel’s King Baasha attacked Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent Judah’s King Asa from moving into that area. ² Asa took silver and gold from the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and the royal palace and sent them to Aram’s King Ben-hadad, who ruled in Damascus, with the following message: ³ “Let’s make a covenant similar to the one between our fathers. Since I have already sent you silver and gold, break your covenant with Israel’s King Baasha so that he will leave me alone.” ⁴ Ben-hadad agreed with King Asa and sent his army commanders against the cities of Israel, attacking Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store-cities of Naphtali. ⁵ As soon as Baasha learned of this, he stopped building Ramah and abandoned his work. ⁶ Then King Asa had all Judah carry away the stone and timber that Baasha was using to build Ramah, and King Asa used it to build Geba and Mizpah. ⁷ At that time Hanani the seer came to Judah’s King Asa and said to him, “Because you relied on Aram’s king and not on the Lord your God, the army of Aram’s king has slipped out of your grasp. ⁸ Weren’t the Cushites and the Libyans a vast army with chariots and horsemen to spare? Still, when you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your power, ⁹ because the Lord’s eyes scan the whole world to strengthen those who are committed to him with all their hearts. Your foolishness means that you will have war on your hands from now on.” ¹⁰ Asa was angry with the seer. Asa was so mad he threw Hanani in jail and took his anger out on some of the people.

Asa’s disease and death

¹¹ The rest of Asa’s deeds, from beginning to end, are written in the official records of Israel’s and Judah’s kings. ¹² In the thirty-ninth year of his rule, Asa developed a severe foot disease. But even in his illness he refused to seek the Lord and consulted doctors instead. ¹³ In the forty-first year of his rule, Asa lay down with his ancestors. ¹⁴ He was buried in the tomb he had prepared for himself in David’s City, and was laid on a bed filled with sweet spices and various kinds of perfume, with a huge fire made in his honor.

Jehoshaphat rules Judah

17 Asa’s son Jehoshaphat succeeded him as king. Jehoshaphat strengthened his position against Israel ² by stationing troops in the fortified cities of Judah and placing soldiers throughout the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim that his father Asa had captured. ³ The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he followed the earlier ways of his father^[w] by not seeking Baal. ⁴ Instead, he sought the God of his father, and unlike Israel, he followed God’s commandments. ⁵ The Lord gave him firm control over the kingdom, and all Judah brought Jehoshaphat tribute, so that he had abundant riches and honor. ⁶ Jehoshaphat took pride in the Lord’s ways and again removed the shrines and the sacred poles^[x] from Judah.

⁷ In the third year of his rule, Jehoshaphat sent his officials Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah to teach in the cities of Judah. ⁸ They were accompanied by the Levites Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tob-adonijah, and by the priests Elishama and Jehoram. ⁹ They taught throughout Judah. They brought with them the Lord’s Instruction scroll as they made their rounds to all the cities of Judah, teaching the people.

¹⁰ All the kingdoms surrounding Judah were afraid of the Lord and didn’t wage war against Jehoshaphat. ¹¹ Some of the Philistines brought a load of silver as tribute to Jehoshaphat. The Arabians also brought flocks to Jehoshaphat: seventy-seven hundred rams and seventy-seven hundred goats. ¹² As Jehoshaphat grew increasingly powerful, he built fortresses and storage cities in Judah ¹³ and had many supplies in the cities of Judah. He also had an army of mighty warriors in Jerusalem, ¹⁴ registered by their clans as follows: Judah’s officers over units of a thousand included Commander Adnah with three hundred thousand soldiers; ¹⁵ next to him was Commander Jehohanan with two hundred eighty thousand soldiers; ¹⁶ at his side was Amasiah, Zichri’s son, who volunteered for the Lord with two hundred thousand soldiers. ¹⁷ From Benjamin came a valiant warrior: Eliada, together with two hundred thousand armed with bow and shield; ¹⁸ next to him was Jehozabad, together with one hundred eighty thousand soldiers. ¹⁹ These were the individuals who served the king in addition to those the king placed in the fortified cities throughout Judah.

Jehoshaphat and Ahab

18 Even though Jehoshaphat already had great wealth and honor, he allied himself with Ahab through marriage. ² A few years later, while Jehoshaphat was visiting Ahab in Samaria, Ahab slaughtered many sheep and oxen for Jehoshaphat and those who were with him in order to persuade him to attack Ramoth-gilead. ³ “Will you go with me to Ramoth-gilead?” Israel’s King Ahab asked Judah’s King Jehoshaphat.

Jehoshaphat replied, “I and my people will be united with you and your people in battle. ⁴ But,” Jehoshaphat said to Israel’s king, “first, let’s see what the Lord has to say.” ⁵ So Israel’s king gathered four hundred prophets and asked them, “Should we go to war with Ramoth-gilead or not?”

“Attack!” the prophets answered. “God will hand it over to the king.”

⁶ But Jehoshaphat said, “Isn’t there any other prophet of the Lord around whom we could ask?”

⁷ “There’s one other man who could ask the Lord for us,” Israel’s king told Jehoshaphat, “but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, only bad. His name is Micaiah, Imlah’s son.”

“The king shouldn’t speak like that!” Jehoshaphat said.

⁸ So Israel’s king called an officer and ordered, “Bring Micaiah, Imlah’s son, right away.”

⁹ Now Israel’s king and Judah’s King Jehoshaphat were sitting on their thrones dressed in their royal robes at the threshing floor beside the entrance to the gate of Samaria. All the prophets were prophesying in front of them. ¹⁰ Zedekiah, Chenaanah’s son, made iron horns for himself and said, “This is what the Lord says: With these horns you will gore the Arameans until there’s nothing left of them!”

¹¹ The other prophets agreed: “Attack Ramoth-gilead and win! The Lord will hand it over to the king!”

¹² Meanwhile, the messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him, “Listen, the prophets all agree that the king will succeed. You should say the same thing they say and prophesy success.”

¹³ But Micaiah answered, “As surely as the Lord lives, I will say only what God tells me to say.”^[y]

¹⁴ When Micaiah arrived, the king asked him, “Micaiah, should we go to war with Ramoth-gilead or not?”

“Attack and win!” Micaiah answered. “The Lord will hand it over to the king.”

¹⁵ But the king said, “How many times must I demand that you tell me the truth when you speak in the Lord’s name?”

¹⁶ Then Micaiah replied, “I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd! And then the Lord said: ‘They have no master. Let them return safely to their own homes.’”

¹⁷ Then Israel’s king said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you? He never prophesies anything good about me, only bad.”

¹⁸ Then Micaiah said, “Listen now to the Lord’s word: I saw the Lord enthroned with all the heavenly forces stationed at his right and at his left. ¹⁹ The Lord said, ‘Who will persuade Israel’s King Ahab so that he attacks Ramoth-gilead and dies there?’ There were several suggestions, ²⁰ until one particular spirit approached the Lord and said, ‘I will persuade him.’ ‘How?’ the Lord asked. ²¹ ‘I will be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,’ he said. The Lord agreed: ‘You will succeed in persuading him! Go ahead!’ ²² So now, since the Lord placed a lying spirit in the mouths of these prophets of yours, it is the Lord who has pronounced disaster against you!”

²³ Zedekiah, Chenaanah’s son, approached Micaiah and slapped him on the cheek. “Just how did the Lord’s spirit leave me to speak to you?” he asked.

²⁴ Micaiah answered, “You will find out on the day you try to hide in an inner room.”

²⁵ “Arrest him,” ordered Israel’s king, “and turn him over to Amon the city governor and to Joash the king’s son. ²⁶ Tell them, ‘The king says: Put this man in prison and feed him minimum rations of bread and water until I return safely.’”

²⁷ “If you ever return safely,” Micaiah replied, “then the Lord wasn’t speaking through me.” Then he added, “Mark my words, every last one of you!”

²⁸ So Israel’s king and Judah’s King Jehoshaphat attacked Ramoth-gilead. ²⁹ Israel’s king said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself when we go into battle, but you should wear your royal attire.” When the king of Israel had disguised himself, they entered the battle.

³⁰ Meanwhile, Aram’s king had commanded his chariot officers, “Don’t bother with anyone big or small. Fight only with Israel’s king.” ³¹ When the chariot officers saw Jehoshaphat, they assumed that he must be Israel’s king, so they turned to attack him. But when Jehoshaphat cried out, the Lord helped him, and God lured them away from him. ³² When the chariot officers realized that he wasn’t Israel’s king, they stopped chasing him.

³³ Someone, however, randomly shot an arrow that struck Israel’s king between the joints in his armor. “Turn around and get me out of the battle,” the king told his chariot driver. “I’ve been hit!” ³⁴ While the battle raged all that day, Israel’s king stood propped up in his chariot facing the Arameans. But that evening he died, just as the sun was going down.

19 Upon the safe arrival of Judah’s King Jehoshaphat to his palace in Jerusalem, ² Jehu son of Hanani the seer came out to meet him and said, “Why did you help the wicked? Why have you loved those who hate the Lord? This is why the Lord is angry with you. ³ Nevertheless, there is some good to be found in you, in that you have removed the sacred poles^[z] from the land and set your mind to seek God.”

Jehoshaphat’s reforms

⁴ Though Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem, he regularly went out among the people between Beer-sheba and Ephraim’s highlands, and encouraged them to return to the Lord, the God of their ancestors. ⁵ He appointed judges throughout the land in each of the fortified cities of Judah, ⁶ instructing them, “Be careful when you pass judgment. You aren’t dispensing justice by merely human standards but for the Lord, who is with you. ⁷ Therefore, respect the Lord and act accordingly, because there can be no injustice, playing favorites, or taking bribes when it comes to the Lord our God.”

⁸ Jehoshaphat also appointed judges in Jerusalem from among the Levites, the priests, and the family heads of Israel to administer the Lord’s Instruction and to settle disputes among those living^[aa] in Jerusalem. ⁹ He instructed them, “You must respect the Lord at all times, in truth, and with complete integrity. ¹⁰ In any case that comes before you from a fellow citizen in an outlying town, whether it involves bloodshed or is an issue of instruction, commandment, regulations, or case laws, you must warn them not to sin against the Lord, consequently making him angry with both you and your fellow citizen. Do this, and you won’t sin. ¹¹ Amariah the chief priest will be in charge of all religious matters, and Zebadiah, Ishmael’s son, the leader of Judah’s house, will be in charge of all civil matters. The Levites will serve as your officers of the court. Carry out your duties with confidence, and may the Lord be with those who do good.”

Jehoshaphat’s victory

20 Some time later, the Moabites and the Ammonites, along with some of the Meunites,^[ab] attacked Jehoshaphat. ² Jehoshaphat was told, “A large army from beyond the sea, from Edom,^[ac] is coming to attack you. They are already at Hazazon-tamar!” (that is, En-gedi). ³ Frightened, Jehoshaphat decided to seek the Lord’s help and proclaimed a fast for all Judah. ⁴ People from all of Judah’s cities came to ask the Lord for help. ⁵ Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem in the Lord’s temple in front of the new courtyard. ⁶ “Lord, the God of our ancestors, you alone are God in heaven. You rule all the kingdoms of the nations. You are so powerful that no one can oppose you. ⁷ You, our God, drove out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and gave this land to the descendants of your friend Abraham forever. ⁸ They have lived in it and have built a sanctuary in honor of your name in it, saying, ⁹ ‘If calamity, sword, flood,^[ad] plague, or famine comes upon us, we will stand before this temple, before you, because your name is in this temple. We will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.’ ¹⁰ So look here! The Ammonites, the Moabites, and those from Mount Seir—the people you wouldn’t let Israel invade when they came out of Egypt’s land, so Israel avoided them and didn’t destroy them— ¹¹ here they are, returning the favor by coming to drive us out of your possession that you gave to us! ¹² Our God, won’t you punish them? We are powerless against this mighty army that is about to attack us. We don’t know what to do, and so we are looking to you for help.”

¹³ All Judah was standing before the Lord, even their little ones, wives, and children. ¹⁴ Then the Lord’s spirit came upon Jahaziel son of Zechariah son of Benaiah son of Jeiel son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the line of Asaph, as he stood in the middle of the assembly.

¹⁵ “Pay attention, all of Judah, every inhabitant of Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat,” Jahaziel said. “This is what the Lord says to you: Don’t be afraid or discouraged by this great army because the battle isn’t yours. It belongs to God! ¹⁶ March out against them tomorrow. Since they will be coming through the Ziz pass, meet them at the end of the valley that opens into the Jeruel wilderness. ¹⁷ You don’t need to fight this battle. Just take your places, stand ready, and watch how the Lord, who is with you, will deliver you, Judah and Jerusalem. Don’t be afraid or discouraged! Go out tomorrow and face them. The Lord will be with you.”

¹⁸ Then Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord in worship. ¹⁹ Levites from the lines of Kohath and Korah stood up to loudly praise the Lord, the God of Israel.

²⁰ Early the next morning they went into the Tekoa wilderness. When they were about to go out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, Judah and every inhabitant of Jerusalem! Trust the Lord your God, and you will stand firm; trust his prophets and succeed!”

²¹ After consulting with the people, Jehoshaphat appointed musicians to play for the Lord, praising his majestic holiness. They were to march out before the warriors, saying, “Give thanks to the Lord because his faithful love lasts forever!” ²² As they broke into joyful song and praise, the Lord launched a surprise attack against the Ammonites, the Moabites, and those from Mount Seir who were invading Judah, so that they were defeated. ²³ The Ammonites and the Moabites turned on those from Mount Seir, completely destroying them. Once they had finished off the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy each other!

²⁴ When Judah arrived at the point overlooking the wilderness, all they could see were corpses lying all over the ground. There were no survivors. ²⁵ When Jehoshaphat and his army came to take the loot, they found a great amount of cattle,^[ae] goods, clothing,^[af] and other valuables—much more than they could carry. In fact, there was so much it took three days to haul it away. ²⁶ On the fourth day they assembled in Blessing Valley, where they blessed the Lord. That’s why it is called Blessing Valley to this day. ²⁷ Then everyone from Judah and Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat at their head, joyfully returned home to Jerusalem because the Lord had given them reason to rejoice over their enemies. ²⁸ They entered Jerusalem accompanied by harps, lutes, and trumpets, and they went to the Lord’s temple.

²⁹ The fear of God came on all the surrounding kingdoms when they heard how the Lord had fought against Israel’s enemies. ³⁰ As a result, Jehoshaphat’s rule was peaceful because his God gave him rest on all sides.

Jehoshaphat’s last days

³¹ Jehoshaphat ruled over Judah. He was 35 years old when he became king, and he ruled for twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azubah; she was Shilhi’s daughter. ³² Jehoshaphat walked in the way of his father Asa and didn’t turn aside from it, doing what was right in the Lord’s eyes, ³³ with the exception that he didn’t remove the shrines. The people were still not committed with all their hearts to the God of their ancestors. ³⁴ The rest of Jehoshaphat’s deeds, from beginning to end, are written in the records of Jehu, Hanani’s son, which are included in the records of Israel’s kings.

³⁵ Sometime later, Judah’s King Jehoshaphat formed an alliance with Israel’s King Ahaziah, which caused him to sin. ³⁶ They agreed to build a fleet of Tarshish-styled ships, and they built them in Ezion-geber. ³⁷ Eliezer, Dodavahu’s son from Mareshah, prophesied against Jehoshaphat: “Because you have formed an alliance with Ahaziah, the Lord will destroy what you have made.” The ships were wrecked and couldn’t sail to Tarshish.

21 Jehoshaphat died and was buried with his ancestors in David’s City. His son Jehoram succeeded him as king.

Jehoram rules

² Jehoram’s brothers, the other sons of Jehoshaphat, were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariah, Michael, and Shephatiah. All of these were the sons of Israel’s King Jehoshaphat. ³ Their father had given them many gifts of silver, gold, and other valuables, along with fortified cities in Judah, but he gave the kingdom to Jehoram because he was the oldest son.

⁴ When Jehoram had taken control of his father’s kingdom, he established his rule by killing all his brothers, along with some other leaders of Israel. ⁵ Jehoram was 32 years old when he became king, and he ruled for eight years in Jerusalem. ⁶ He walked in the ways of Israel’s kings, just as Ahab’s dynasty had done, because he married Ahab’s daughter. He did what was evil in the Lord’s eyes. ⁷ Nevertheless, because of the covenant he had made with David, the Lord wasn’t willing to destroy David’s dynasty. He had promised to preserve a lamp for David and his sons forever. ⁸ During Jehoram’s rule, Edom rebelled against Judah’s power and appointed its own king. ⁹ Jehoram, along with all his chariots, crossed over to Zair.^[ag] The Edomites, who had surrounded him, attacked at night, defeating him^[ah] and his chariot officers. ¹⁰ So Edom has been independent of Judah to this day. Libnah rebelled against Jehoram’s rule at the same time because he had abandoned the Lord, the God of his ancestors. ¹¹ As if that wasn’t enough, Jehoram constructed shrines throughout Judah’s highlands, encouraged Jerusalem’s citizens to be unfaithful, and led Judah astray.

¹² A letter from the prophet Elijah came to Jehoram that read, “This is what the Lord, the God of your ancestor David, says: Because you haven’t walked in the ways of your father Jehoshaphat or the ways of Judah’s King Asa, ¹³ but have walked in the ways of Israel’s kings and have encouraged Judah and Jerusalem’s citizens to be unfaithful, just as the house of Ahab did, and because you have even murdered your own brothers, your father’s family, who were better than you, ¹⁴ the Lord will now strike your family, your children, your wives, and all your possessions with a heavy blow. ¹⁵ You yourself will become deathly ill with a chronic disease that will cause your intestines to fall out.”

¹⁶ Then the Lord made the Philistines and the Arabs, who lived near the Cushites, angry with Jehoram. ¹⁷ They attacked Judah, broke down its defenses, and hauled off all the goods that were found in the royal palace, along with the king’s children and wives. Only Jehoahaz, Jehoram’s youngest son, was spared. ¹⁸ After all this, the Lord struck Jehoram with an incurable intestinal disease. ¹⁹ For almost two years he grew steadily worse, until two days before his death, when his intestines fell out, causing him to die in horrible pain. His people didn’t make a fire in his honor as they had done for his ancestors. ²⁰ He was 32 years old when he became king, and he ruled for eight years in Jerusalem. No one was sorry he died. He was buried in David’s City but not in the royal cemetery.

22 The inhabitants of Jerusalem made his youngest son Ahaziah succeed him as king because the raiding party that had invaded the camp with the Arabs had killed all the older sons. So Ahaziah, Jehoram’s son, became king of Judah.

Ahaziah rules

² Ahaziah was 22 years old^[ai] when he became king, and he ruled for one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah; she was the granddaughter of Omri. ³ Ahaziah walked in the ways of Ahab’s dynasty, encouraged in this wickedness by his mother. ⁴ He did what was evil in the Lord’s eyes, just as Ahab’s dynasty had done, because after his father’s death they gave him advice that led to his downfall. ⁵ Ahaziah was following their advice when he went with Israel’s King Joram,^[aj] Ahab’s son, to fight against Aram’s King Hazael at Ramoth-gilead, where the Arameans wounded Joram. ⁶ Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he suffered at Ramah in his battle with Aram’s King Hazael. Then Judah’s King Ahaziah,^[ak] Jehoram’s son, went down to visit Joram, Ahab’s son, at Jezreel because he had been wounded. ⁷ But God used this visit to Joram to bring about Ahaziah’s downfall. After his arrival, Ahaziah went with Joram to meet Jehu, Nimshi’s son, whom the Lord had anointed to destroy Ahab’s dynasty. ⁸ While Jehu was executing judgment on Ahab’s dynasty, he discovered the princes of Judah, Ahaziah’s nephews, serving Ahaziah, and Jehu killed them. ⁹ Jehu went looking for Ahaziah, who was captured while hiding in Samaria. He was then brought to Jehu and executed. He was given a decent burial, however, because people said, “He was the grandson of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with all his heart.”

There were now no members of Ahaziah’s dynasty strong enough to rule the kingdom.

Queen Athaliah rules Judah

¹⁰ When Athaliah, Ahaziah’s mother, learned of her son’s death, she immediately destroyed the entire royal family of Judah’s dynasty. ¹¹ But Jehoshabeath the king’s daughter secretly took Ahaziah’s son Jehoash^[al] from the rest of the royal children who were about to be murdered, and hid him in a bedroom, along with his nurse. In this way Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of the priest Jehoiada and the sister of Ahaziah, hid Jehoash from Athaliah so she couldn’t murder him. ¹² He remained hidden with them in God’s temple for six years while Athaliah ruled the country.

23 But in the seventh year Jehoiada boldly formed a conspiracy with the following unit commanders: Jeroham’s son Azariah, Jehohanan’s son Ishmael, Obed’s son Azariah, Adaiah’s son Maaseiah, and Zichri’s son Elishaphat. ² They went throughout Judah recruiting the Levites from all the cities of Judah, as well as the family heads of Israel, who then came to Jerusalem. ³ The entire assembly made a covenant with the king in God’s temple. Jehoiada said, “Look! Here is the king’s son. He must be king, just as the Lord promised about David’s descendants. ⁴ This is what you must do: A third of you priests and Levites coming on sabbath duty will guard the gates, ⁵ another third will be at the royal palace, and another third will be at the Foundation Gate. Meanwhile, all the people will be in the courtyards of the Lord’s temple. ⁶ Don’t enter the Lord’s temple, because only the priests or Levites on duty can do that. They are allowed to enter because they are holy, but the rest of the people must follow the Lord’s requirements. ⁷ The Levites must surround the king, each with his weapons drawn. Whoever comes near your ranks must be killed; stay near the king wherever he goes.”

⁸ The Levites and all Judah did everything that the priest Jehoiada ordered. They each took charge of those men reporting for duty on the Sabbath, as well as those going off duty, since Jehoiada hadn’t released any divisions from duty. ⁹ Then the priest Jehoiada gave the unit commanders King David’s spears and large and small shields that were kept in God’s temple. ¹⁰ He positioned all the people, each with their weapons drawn, near the altar and the temple, stretching from the south side of the temple to the north side, so as to protect the king. ¹¹ Then they brought out the king’s son, crowned him, gave him the royal law,^[am] and made him king. Jehoiada and his sons anointed him as everyone cried out, “Long live the king!”

¹² When Athaliah heard the noise made by the people running and cheering the king, she went to the people at the Lord’s temple ¹³ and saw the king standing by the royal pillar at the entrance, with the commanders and trumpeters beside the king. All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets, and singers accompanied by musical instruments were leading the praise. Athaliah ripped her clothes and screamed, “Treason! Treason!”

¹⁴ Then the priest Jehoiada brought out the unit commanders who were in charge of the army. “Take her out under guard,”^[an] he told them, “and kill anyone who follows her.” This was because the priest had said, “She must not be executed in the Lord’s temple.” ¹⁵ They arrested her when she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate at the royal palace. She was executed there.